Drying machine for lumber and the like



NOV. 24, 1931. COE

DRYING MACHINE FOR LUMBER AND THE LIKE Original Filed May 19 1925' 4 Sheets-Sheer 2 ATTORNEY NOV. 24, 1931. p CQE DRYING MACHINE FOR LUMBER AND THE LIKE Original Filed May 19, 15325v 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 X N 0 m INVENTQR ATTORNEYS.

Nov. 24, 1931. H. P. COE 1,833,880

DRYING MACHINE FOR LUMBER AND THE LIKE Original Filed May 19, 1925 4 Sheets-Shea! 4 INVENTOR Patented Nov. 24, 1931 Y PR W weemmq ifwmwn A TH 9 Application filed Kayla, 1925, Serial No; 31527 5. Renewed-May .15, 1930.

- v v r l -i L I 7 My im m- 011 relates he. a iyiQg meqhilie for lumber or other slab-like Iiiateriil I is. thehgeneml obie b 9 xl2 9i W 2 P o, imprpyethe constxugtion e f lxy n 5, ch ne of the. chara ter; des ibed; an 9 P 39) vicle jamec ine wh h willq iisk ii 211d fiqi wally. df lumber. he ilset the d? 2&1. degliee o :1 clry'neee- I lnaylbefed heret reugh etaiY-er ebl liefi I is urt e o ie fi efpxqyidea dny-iili' machine 9f the char cter-1 ini ifiel i W h! m n for condit oni g umben Qr oth r me? terial passing there h oug Briefly Stated, inmthe:

' the. igvention I empl y a h us ngextend n substantially the full eng h bi: the, medl ne In the honsingihere plurality 9 E ers %Q of feed rolls for conducting several tieps 9i l er or. the. like the:ethr ughe Ea h, ti of feed. rolls may be .(lriyenhyl s epe Ijate 1151; independent ilriying mean su h QLWE TM'. ble speed motor, Wheneby on f ie may be drivenjet afdifiexrent speed 10m em ry 615 912 tier, am this rate of speed may be Ygpl iegl at will. The feecl 1.011s in gelieml are piefell: bly ra er light nd senve merely to ause. fibe boards to progress f fQ ILDDQQIlfiLQf the 39 machine 'to the other. Hoyiejienj at 59mg. point in the travel of themaqerial I may pm; vid a lurality of very heavy. meehaniml:

1y pressed frolls, which may "stlieightell- Qllt warped lumbe fl or. the lilge and Cause the same to clrly flat. J ust before, oliduljihg thi hfifily pressing operation, the lumber; is 1 preffili lbly conditioned by; showering the Same fwijgh wet spear or water, so as to remlenthe sgune. 6 llalJl Q to crack or check during the. gfillfllgl ik "$9 enm'g process Apan or. reservoir 01; ater may be provided intlie bottom 0@ the hpu sing at one'or mere points, andvapor risingfrbni this reservoir will condition the liunbef QIIlQ: what andQtend to prevent case hardening. 4? Hot ail; or other drying medium may-be i11 troduced at ppos t Sid$ t he e 14 hmugh vertic ly ex end n PiP9$ which merge into a header ex e din long udina etl eeh $31? heme? si 59 time maybe pe tile iedin ik he eiiluning paisia ethmq h,

preiiemiecl.

ing.

tnefi ze pmrp eee nly, a preferred te m @ithei iwenti fi h h l l is l diegmmmetiq View; ll P311129;

lust ating feetmiesd he nventiex s- Big-1 ismziew s m ertb li ig- 1, 911 h9Wi Iaefiheentrex'xeeeniif Qt machine;

' generally 5, wh fih'hous ng may-have hingesl doors or the like 6+6, which may he gpegl egl insp ci ionl o he inte erhefihe ell ani linterlpriperfs moun ed n a subsf enf-r lfiel concrete ase 9! 01m sl ping Hyde 8 ls harg nint Sl R k$ JlQh wey the epor e elyegl w as iori'qondueb n during the dnying PIQCQS- In the interim of the hougs lg I; lhekliii iige Wh sk? shibiiiifoi op. of theheu ngmeyl e 1 A mere;

d tying niach nefinelli ngihe del vesy @1 2 It .is. 11,026. fip llfifl blfict tezpiowle 1Q m chinein, whin i' lumb x Q1" othe me e ieL' fi e eliy ry end; oi the @rymg i e:

ral ityiof ieecl rol s 107 Wh'iQh m y-" arranged in ev re! t re- -.l?he$ 59 i? are jo rn led in suitable; uprights v' l, the beeizingfoii .19 Q lhe lls in we; pair in mitting "variation in ,the d a ee b tween 2L tier is p-rorv c ed with sfifo k b 3, QYQI.

9 whi h thedri ng c ain 1& ru s and seryes 55 the machine I position steam pipes therein chine 'for the purpose of changing-the size lumber or the likeof different thicknesses may be run through the machine at the same time, without danger of overdrying thin lumher and underdrying thicker lumber, and this variation may be accomplished during the time that the machine is running without the necessity of having to shut down the maof the driving sprocket or other means, which has previously been done when'it'w'as desired to change the rate of speed of feed'rolls.

The majority of the feed rolls 10-' 10 the machine are relatively light rolls, which serve merely to- .progressithelumber on its course. However, some of the rolls, such asthose indicated at 20 in Fig.1, may be 7 very heavy'or' mechanically pressed rolls, for

exerting a high pressure on the material pass- "ing between them for the purposeof straightening out warpedboards and causing the same to dry in a flat condition; ithsomeaterial itis-"desirable to steamor moistenit before or during the timeityis passing betw'een'the heavy 1011320; For this pur: pose I have indicated pipes- 21'2l, having discharge apertures, facing the-material passof discharging steam ormoistureonto the ing'between therolls 21. 21 forthe purpose boards, for rendering the same, less liable operation. I I The entrance rolls 2222 shown inFig. 1 are preferably'single rolls, that is, not paired to crack andcheclrduring the. straightening with otherrolls, so that the lumber feeder may feed'a board a substantial'distance into the machine without having to wait for, the mechanioallyoperated rolls to feed the same inwardly.

1 In order to dry lumber passing through the machine hot air or hot products of com bustion may be introduced into the housing.

For that purpose conduits 25-25 may beprovided .at'the lower side of the housing and at opposite sidesthereof. These'conduits may be fed from the same or separate sources of drying mediums.

' At suitable intervals upstanding pipes or risers 2626 extend. from the conduits 25 for the purpose of conducting hot air upward ly into the housings The'risers 26 26 mayhavesuitable openings 2727 either-permanently open or valvecontrolled, for introduc- I I ing the dryingmedium into the housing and onto thematerial being-dried. In orderto further heat the material passing through overasubstantial part of the interior.

' Figs. 5 and 6 illustrate two methods of steam' pipe arrangement. is Headers" 3 0 30" may be arranged in the housing, one being an inlet header, and the other an outlet header, and between these headers are a plurality of lateral, pipes 3l3l,fwhichconduct the steam in the housing andserveas radiating sur-I faces The headers 30 may be connected at' s pp y the outside of the housing'to the main steam pipe 32 and to a corresponding steam exhaust pipe not shown (see Fig. f

Fig. 6 illustrates a modification in which the steam pipes are arranged in what may be termed series, rather thaninparallel, as

shown in Fig. 5.

-Now,in order to further condition the" lumber passing through .the housing and to prevent the same fIdm' case hardening," I ma providean open reservoir in the tqmiq th ,l i1s n .;a Suitable Point, and the heat in the housing causes water vapors toriseliroma the 'reservoir 35 and to moiste'nthelumber so as to jprevent'case hardening andpermit the same to be properly dried.

agent and also toconserveheat Imay-return a'part'of the vapor laden gases from one or more of the hoods8or'stacks 9 to thehousing and forthat-purpose I have indicated a conduit 35 connecting the conduit 25 with a part of the housing carrying vapor laden as thehood 8 (Fig. 3). A blower 36- be employed to force the .vapors trom gases may the hood to the conduit 25. This conduit may 7 r be c'ontrolled by avalve 37-. Obviously the conduit 25 at the opposite side of the machine may be similarly connected to the hood or stack.' "1' The operation of the machine will now be clear. Lumber is fedionto the single rfeed rolls: 22 (Fig. 1 andisthenfedeitheridirectly'orat a later time during its passage V I its through-the machine tothe heavy pressure rolls :20'20, where'it is straightened out. Steam from thepipes 21'-21' may atthis time serve to moisten the lumber, to facilitate-the straightening process; Lumberisthen fed by the rolls'lQ' on through the machine at the properrate of speed, so that when it reaches the-dischargeend it has dried the desired amount.- 'The'time-for drying will be determined principally by" the lengthaof the machine, the rate of speedottravel there:

through thequantity of moisture originally.

lie

contained in thelumber,the thickness thereormoist'ure content desired in'the dried product. By the provision of, variable and independent speeds for the various tiers of rolls, lumber of different dryness andwdif of, the quantity and character of heating me- 'dium'supplied to the machine and theidryness V ferentthickness may be fed through separate H v v tiers, and the speed of travel 'so regulated that when the lumber reaches the outlet or discharge end it fwill; all be in substantially the desired condition of dryness.

' The steam discharge means aswellas the provision ofthe reservoir for n the housing 1 5 1 generating water vapor, both serve to condition the lumber so as to prevent case hardening so that the lumber may dry substantially Without checks or cracks; The moisture given off by the lumber being dried, as well as the V gaseous material fed into the housing, pass into the hoods 8 and out through the stack 9 or when desired a part may be recirculated through the housing as previously described. Obviously the principles of the invention are applicable to a machine having'a single deck or tier of rolls or a plurality of such decks or tiers and I do not wish to be confined to a multiple deck machine except where I have so indicated; I

Ordinarily the enclosing housing would be insulated with suitable insulation to conserve the heat used for drying the lumber.

Whilethe invention has been described in some detail, I do not wish to be limited strictly to the forms shown, since changes may be made within the scope of the inven-- tion as-defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a lumber drying machine, a housing, a plurality of tiers of feeding rolls therein, means for driving said feeding rolls for feeding material to be dried through said housing, a drying medium conduit extending longitudinally of said housing and at the lower end thereof, a plurality otupstanding tubes connected to said conduit and having open- V 'ings for discharglng heating medium into said housing, a stack for conducting vapors from sa1d housing, means for discharging a humidifying agent into sa1d housing, pairs of pressure rolls for straightening the ma- 7 terial while subjected to saidheating mespeed dilferent from the speed of another of i HARRY P. 00E."

said tiers. 

